Washington and Abu Dhabi pushed their technology partnership forward last week through three days of high-level talks covering artificial intelligence, space, cybersecurity, quantum computing, and export policy. The discussions build on a $1.4 trillion investment framework the two countries agreed to in March 2025, with a UAE delegation led by Asst. Foreign Minister for Advanced Science & Technology Affairs Omran Sharaf meeting officials across the Commerce Department, State Department, and White House.
Central to the talks was the UAE’s A:5 export-control designation, a status that streamlines technology trade between the two nations and gives approved Emirati entities secure access to sensitive American technology.
The UAE became the first Arab nation to hold it, and officials frame it as formal recognition from Washington that the country ranks among its most trusted technology partners. Trust spanning at least five decades underpins the relationship, according to Sharaf, who pointed to cooperation across some highly sensitive sectors, including intelligence, nuclear energy, and defense.
That very standard now extends to artificial intelligence and advanced tech, he said, with the UAE’s investment, infrastructure, and institutions built around that broader relationship, and last week’s talks reflecting that commitment directly.
A major American push on quantum computing forms the backdrop for much of this cooperation. President Trump signed an executive order on the technology in June, and the Department of Energy followed in September with a $215 million competition challenging private companies to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer with at least 100 logical qubits by 2028.
Firms including IonQ, Rigetti, D-Wave, and Quantinuum have each picked up federal funding this year as Washington races to stay ahead of international rivals in the field. Similar momentum carries over into space cooperation, where NASA’s Artemis II mission flew four astronauts around the Moon in April and the agency’s Artemis Accords framework, which sets shared rules for lunar and Mars exploration, has grown past 75 signatory nations this year alone.
Active UAE participation in that effort reflects the kind of space partnership the latest Washington talks aim to deepen further. Joining Sharaf on the trip were several senior officials, among them Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, head of the UAE’s cybersecurity efforts, along with representatives from the Advanced Technology Research Council, UAE Space Agency, and satellite firm Space42.
American officials in the talks included Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg and cyberspace policy ambassador Adam Cassady, alongside Commerce Department space official Taylor Jordan and White House science and technology director Michael Kratsios.
Industry meetings rounded out private-sector engagement during the trip, with Sharaf sitting down separately with three executives: Software and Information Industry Association president Christopher Mohr, Information Technology Industry Council president Jason Oxman, and IonQ chief executive Niccolo De Masi.
Policy institutions hosted the delegation too, including the Hudson Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where Sharaf addressed students on technology, power, and the shifting global order.
It remains to be seen how such partnerships will accelerate the pace at which leading tech businesses like D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS) hit major milestones aimed at commercializing quantum computing in different markets around the world.
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